This freep article writes about the plans Detroit ( the last paragraph lists the only city employee commenting on it, if you’re interested in the municipal support implications) has to add 30 miles of bike lanes, starting in Southwest Detroit.

Check out the comments section (here and there) and add your voice to the conversation!

Why have a Women and Trans Night at The Hub of Detroit?

Women’s night is a drop-in repair time for female-identified people to work on bikes and learn bike mechanics.  Everyone should be welcome and comfortable working in our shop, but some people are just not comfortable learning from male mechanics.  Gendered preconceptions, whether intentionally sexist or not, are constantly present in a workshop setting

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Isn’t segregation (separating people based on race, gender, and class) a bad thing?
The following explanation from another bike collective’s lady organizers made sense to me:
Think of society like a big ladder, with the people who control resources, labor, money, politics (ie. people with power) at the top and the people with no power at the bottom.  People with some power are in the middle.  Men are higher up on this ladder than women (see government and income as examples in first world societies, women’s health in third world societies). When a group that is higher on the ladder tells a group that is lower on the ladder to go away, that is called segregation. When a group that is lower on the ladder tells a group above them to go away, that is called “organizing”. When and ONLY when a group has the initiative to organize can they gain power by helping each other on the same level.

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And Trans?
We want to include people that may not necessarily fit the traditional definition of the word “woman”.  As long as someone relates to the experience of being female on a daily basis and is being genuine, they are welcome to come to women’s night.

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Allies and exceptions.
Yes, it is wonderful to have supportive male mechanics and volunteers at The Hub to act as allies to females in the wrenching scene.  No, there will be no exceptions to allowing men into women’s night, not even if he “just” needs to fix a flat really fast or borrow a tool.  When we come to women’s night, we do not expect or need men to be there, but we do expect to learn and share skills with other women.  If you are male, you can be an ally by respecting the space during women’s night and at all times keeping each others’ behavior in check, whether intentionally sexist or not.

These are all personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect of the beliefs of The Hub of Detroit, nor does The Hub of Detroit endorse any of the views espoused within.

What this DOES mean, practically, is that if you see something in the politics section you feel strongly (for OR against), you should comment on it, maybe engage in some discussion on why you feel strongly and you think someone else feels weakly on the subject. Or even why you agree with someone for precisely the reason they believe is invalid.

What that DOES NOT mean is that you should hold the shop responsible for any of the content contained herein. Don’t come up to the shop all adither because someone posted something here about how road rage should be a capital offense, and acting like we can do something to restrict someone’s right to free speech. That’s just the way America works, for now.

In any case, look forward to news and hopefully lively and informed (informING even!) posts and discussion about bicycle-related policy and polity.

Folks like AASHTO, who have an important question to ask:

Are we there yet? I guess not...

So us, being intrepid preparers, go to do a little boning up on AASHTO’s bicycle policy-work.

None found!

Hmm…

“Help!” indeed.